I have been enjoying of some of these great links that ya'll have provided and thought I might contribute something myself.. I have been researching my family history for nearly 20 years now and altho I'm not a professional, I have worked with many and have developed a fairly extensive knowledge on how to go about researching one's genealogy. So basically I figured I'd start this thread to offer any of you some help or advice if any of you are interested in researching your family tree. Also, if you have done some research but have come to what's known as a "brick wall", I might be able to offer some tips as to what you might do to find the info you seek. Again, I'm not a professional nor am I trying to make any money from anyone, just thought I'd offer and see if anyone might be interested. Or.....for those of you that are amateur genealogists like myself, maybe we can just stir up some interesting conversations about our findings...;] JS
Well first I would get a notebook or spiral binder to keep all your info together, if you like, you might have one for each family line that you are researching, in order to keep them separate and make it less confusing. The best place to start is by seeking some answers from family elders. Grandparents if still alive, Aunts and Uncles and etc... Find out how your family got to it's present location or the location in which u were born and or your family had settled. Where did they come from, which state or country. And dates if possible. What year did they settle where you were born and or grew up. Once you obtain some info, get started putting together a tree for both sides of your family, or either side if you are only interested in researching just one side of the family. For example: Start with yourself and go backwards......and do one side of the family at a time. Most ppl start with their father's family first because generally that is where you got your surname. John Finfan Jr born Sept 1 1960 Miami, Florida Parents: John Finfan Sr born November 1, 1935 Atlanta, Ga Married to: Jane Smith born August 1, 1939 Charleston, SC Children: John Jr. born Sept 1 1960 Lisa born May1 1962 Mathew born April 1 1964 Then John Finfan Sr's parents, the paternal grandparents of John Finfan : Samuel Finfan born Dec 1, 1904 Augusta, Ga Died Jan 1 1980 Atlanta, Ga Married to: Sally Jones born Feb 1, 1908 Columbia , SC Children: Samuel born Dec 1, 1904 Jennifer born Oct 1 1906 Clarence born March 1 1908 James born May 1 1910 Repeat this with your mother's side of the family, preferably in a separate notebook or folder. Now..... It will be different for different families. In some cases you will be able to ask questions and will get much information and in others you might only get scraps of info. Try to get back as far as you can by asking questions.....and then from there, YOU will have to find the answers yourself. The best source of info is the US Census. The census records are available from 1790-1930. The census was taken every ten years between those periods. The records become public after 70 years...in 2010, the 1940 census will be available and so on. I'll give you an example of how to search...using the above family. Lets say you are stuck at Samuel, the grandfather. ....you know he was born in Augusta in 1904. So you will need to look at the 1910 Augusta census. Samuel will be listed as 5 or 6 years old, depending on what month the survey was taken. Also listed, will be his parents....the info u are looking for. Lets say it's lists his father as: Jesse Finfan 43 yrs old, born in SC Now you look for him as a child in the census.....if he is 43 in 1910, then he would have been born circa 1867. So you try to find him in the 1870 census for SC. As far as access to census records, your local library might have a genealogy section. Maybe there is a LDS (church of the latter day saints) in your area and they have extensive info as well and it is free. This type of research takes some footwork and can sometimes be costly in travel expenses. For those that are very serious and would like to research online, I would suggest considering getting a subscription to Ancestry.com. The records they have to offer online are just amazing....and your search process will be MUCH faster and easier, due to their search engines. Otherwise, you're at the library going blind while you scroll thru miles of microfilm looking for a name. lol There's a ton more that I could say but let me stop here for now and if you or anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them. Hope this is helpful and happy hunting;] JS
I would like to know where to start for my moms family. Not sure if they are from here or mexico. My grandma is dead and my grandpa has alzheimers. Any good sites you could recommend?
Well most of my knowledge concerns US based searches so I'm not very good with anything international. But, maybe it's not needed. If you know your mom's father's name and have an idea of his age at death, you can do a search on the SSDI site, which lists social security info. This will give u his exact age and place of death. The exact age will give u an idea of what years to search for him as a child, to find his parents and knowing his place of death could help you locate a death certificate which often provides you with at least a little info. Such as place of birth and sometimes even parents...it varies with diff places and times. http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ Also.....there are a few diff genealogy websites, the most used being Ancestry.com They do have some free stuff that they offer, mostly to get u going and willing to buy a subscription from them. But these things they offer can be helpful. One of the most valuable things they have is free as a matter of fact. And that would be the message boards. http://boards.rootsweb.com/?o_iid=33216&o_lid=33216 Do a search for the name you are interested in and you will find a message board for it. On there you can post a request for some help and possibly find ppl that might be looking for the same or related info. Someone that you might share a great great great great grandfather with.....regardless of how unique the name might seem, you'd be surprised. Generally there is someone, somewhere researching that family. Try and see if that helps and let me know how it goes and I'll try and help you from there.....if you have more questions, feel free to ask;] JS
